Lytham St Annes BDA offers local businesses an effective alternative, and in most cases, complementary networking environment for people who are serious about growing their business. 
Lytham St Annes BDA primary purpose is to increase every member's business through referrals. Word of mouth advertising is the best advertising there is - not to mention the cheapest. 
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Oct 25
2008
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Should I start a Business Blog ?Posted by Nick in Untagged   |
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Should I start a Business Blog?
I started to talk about blogging recently at the BDA breakfast meeting and was surprised to be asked 'what is blogging'? After talking to a few members it would seem that the word "Blogging" has no real meaning. So with this in mind, I though what better way to start the BDA blog than with an article entitled "An Introduction to Business Blogging" So where shall I start? I know let's start at the very beginning....
What is a Blog?
The term Blog & Blogging was first used in 1997 and in its basic form a 'blog' is an online journal.
Google have said that...... "A blog is a personal diary, a daily pulpit, a collaborative space, a political soapbox, a breaking-news outlet, a collection your own private thoughts and memos to the world."
Others have said ..... "You cannot afford to close your eyes to blogs, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself".
Today thankfully blogs are easy to set up and simple to maintain allowing anyone that can send an email a way to share their thoughts with anyone that cares to read them.
When blogging first started back in the late 90's it took the form of a frequently updated, personal website featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles on other websites. But it wasn't long before businesses started to see the real benefits in blogging.
So what's all the fuss about? How is blogging going to affect your business? Apart from giving you a new way to let off steam.
Let's look at a real blogging example.,
There are many great examples of blogs on the internet, but to try and illustrate a point let's look at Fastlane Blog for this example, Fastlane Blog for those that don't know is the blog started by Bob Lutz (vice chairman of General Motors).
Can you imagine just how difficult it would be for you the end user of a General Motors product to get your feedback to the powers that be? In the days before the internet (and before blogging) giving feedback on the latest products would only have been accomplished through automatic telephone systems, letters or pr-paid reply cards to the customer service department. Whichever way the feedback was submitted the chances are it would have virtually no impact on the next product released as the message was not getting to the powers that be .
So Bob Lutz decided to launch his own blog which he called "Fastlane Blog" What could he possibly stand to gain by opening himself up directly to his customers?
The answer - a great deal.
By posting to his blog regularly (this is called blogging), he was now able to communicate directly with his customers through the blog comments section (this allows anyone reading the blog to have their say), this allowed him and the rest of his team to get feedback directly from those who bought from him.
This example can be applied to your business and can be a useful, cost effective way to keep in touch directly with not only your customers but also future customers.
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written by Wayne Howard , October 29, 2008
